What Does Ezra 2:29 Mean in the King James?
The children of Nebo, fifty and two.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Restoration becomes visible one community at a time: even fifty-two people are counted by the place they belong to.
THE MEANING
A community appears here as a real, countable body: fifty-two people held together by the name of their place. The line gives you a picture of restoration at human scale, where belonging remains visible even when the number is small.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a small group is too slight to matter dissolves here: fifty-two still have a place in the restored community’s account.
THE ROOT
בְּנֵי
bənê
GROWS FROM
בנה
banah
To build or establish; ben, “son” or “child,” is associated with this root.
The Hebrew phrase means “children of Nebo,” and can identify a community by its place of belonging. Its connection to the build-root adds a quiet layer: these people are part of a community being built again.
ALSO GROWS
ben: son; child
בֵּן
The singular form behind בְּנֵי keeps the group tied to family and belonging.
banah: to build; establish
בָּנָה
This branch echoes the way a counted community contributes to a larger whole being established.
THE PATTERN
Restoration gathers scattered people into visible belonging, rebuilding a community through those who return.
Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.THE THREAD
The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.Ezra calls this group בְּנֵי (bənê, children), a form associated with בנה (banah, build). Psalm 147 uses the same build-root for Jerusalem: the people counted in Ezra are part of the community being built again.
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